Nurse Arrested For Refusing To Draw Blood For Police (Video)

Newly released police body cam video (below) shows the moments leading up to the controversial arrest of a Utah nurse who refused to draw blood from an unconscious person.

The incident took place on July 26 when Alex Wubbels, a nurse at the University of Utah hospital and a former Olympic skier, was asked by a Salt Lake City police detective to draw blood from an unconscious patient who had been in a car crash.

Police were looking to obtain a sample of the patient's blood to determine whether he had been driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, according to NBC News.

ADVERTISEMENT

Thanks for watching!

In the body cam video, Wubbels can be heard telling Detective Jeff Payne that there is a problem with the request.

Reading from a sheet of paper, she explains to the officer that for her to draw the patient's blood, one of three conditions have to be met: the police have to provide an electronic warrant, the patient has to give his or her consent, or the patient has to be under arrest.

ADVERTISEMENT

Thanks for watching!

ADVERTISEMENT

Thanks for watching!

"The patient can't consent, [the officer] told me repeatedly that he doesn't have a warrant, and the patient is not under arrest," Wubbels says. "I'm just trying to do what I'm supposed to do."

To which Payne responds: "So I take it without those in place, I am not going to get blood. Am I fair to surmise that?"

Wubbels appears to have her supervisor on speaker phone. When the supervisor begins communicating directly with Payne -- explaining that he is "making a huge mistake because you are threatening a nurse" -- Payne grabs for the phone and says: "We're done."

Wubbels shrieks in fear as Payne grabs her and tells her that she is under arrest. He forcibly moves her outside and cuffs her hands behind her back.

"Stop!" Wubbels cries. "I've done nothing wrong!"

Other hospital staff walk out and try to intervene on Wubbels' behalf, calling the arrest "unnecessary" and telling Payne that hospital administration is on the way.

"She can sit in my car while they're coming," Payne says.

NBC News reports that other officers from the University of Utah and the Department of Public Safety stood by while Wubbels was roughed up by Payne.

Wubbels was later released without charge. She spoke about the distressing experience during a news conference on Aug. 31.

"I just feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel a lot of things," she said through tears, according to NBC News. "And I am still confused. I'm a health care worker, the only job I have is to keep my patients safe."

She added that she hopes the incident will serve as a lesson to police departments across the country.

"This was not peaceful. This was not even civil," Wubbels said. "So at the very least, there needs to be some significant discussion about what their duties are to society."

Payne has been suspended from the Salt Lake City police's blood draw program. He remains on active duty.